The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-13
SOLDIERS suPERsrIT1oNs.
and Federals - Rabbits
Feet-A Steel Button.
From the Detroit Free Pies.

Confeaerates and FederaIs - Rabbits
Feet-A Steel Button.
From the Detroit Free Press
AS 70 whether the Confederate soldier
,vas any more supeistitious than the Federal
Ineither admit nor deny, but think the
came slIperstitions III regard to battles prob
ablv prevailed to an equal extent on both
sides. We may laugh at them now, but we
once accepted and pinned our faith to them.
The first instance to come under my obser-
vation was at Gaines mill. | was then
serving with an Alabama regiment, and the
morning of the day on which we were MAX
inc our coffee at the early camp fire, heard
a Sort of groan from comrade, and as [
turned to look at him l noticed that he was
ctaring into his coffee pot with something
like terror, while his face was deathly pale
0yyhat is it? l asked
~ shall be killed to-day" he groaned
out.
ole musket will be fred"
~ dreamed last night he whispered.
sthat | looked down upon a sheet of water
whose surface was covered with bubbles, and
amid them l saw my own dead face. | shall
he shot before night.
ridiculed the idea and brought up others
TO assist me, but the only reply to our rail
ie,y was sad shake of the head. He was a
believer in Dreams and he certainly felt that
his last day had come In place of eating
his breakfast he scrubbed off letter to his
mother and intrusted it to conlrade. In a
little time we got the order to march, and
t GeroT1 forward to uncover "' a
norton of the Federal line. The first
missile sent at us was solid shot from a
ield-piece, and it struck the young soldier
4 h fns,, lxr
ont iniuring another man. Not another
man was even wounded for the next ten
minutes The night before Burnside crossed
of fredericksburg a second lieutenant in a
Virginia regiment received, with hundreds
Of others, some mail from the regimental
bag. carried the pack Of twenty or thirty
letters over to the officers quarters and
handed it to this lieutenant. The top letter
was for him. and on one end of the letter
was a red stain. 1t looked like blood, but
was probably ink. He no sooner saw it than
he became greatly affected, and said:
81 shall be the first officer out of the regi-
ment killed tomorrow.
heard a dozen officers ridieufng him.
hut he became silent and serious and finally
walked away by himself. We were down
on the right, where the first Federal attack
was made. Our regiment was using a long
and deep land furrow as rifle pit, and the
advancing line of blue had just come within
range when a bullet struck the Lieutenant
in the head, killing him instantly. 1t came
from the front and was probably from some
shaIpshooter, but it was afterward agreed
that the officer who was killed was, perhaps,
the least exposed OF any.
There was a superstition in my regiment
that any one who went into battle with the
foot of rabbit tied around his neck was
safe This was all right, and rabbits feet
were at high premium for two or three
weeks. My brigade was pushed ahead on q
reconnaissance, bumped up against the
Yanks, and we not only got severely thrash
ed but we lost good many men. Out OF
the seventy men in my company presume
that thirty had the talisman. 1t so hap
pened that the three killed belonged to this
lucky set, and next day rabbits feet took q
decided fall in price.
| was for time a brigadier's orderly
His superstition was that he would be safe
from bullets as long as he rode a chestnut
horse. In the first battle into which fol
lowed him his chestnut horse was shot, and
Of course, l hustled to bring him up an
other. Mine was a coal black, and the only
one which l could get for him was a roam
He didn't seem to notice the difference unit
the action was over and then | got terri
BILE rating. In the second battle ne had {
chestnut and even before our line came I'm
der fire a bullet crippled the horse and an
other hit my SuperstltlOuS General in thu
thigh and left him to limp through life on
short leg. / personally knew other officer
who felt safe on roans bays, blacks and even
whites, but they sooner or later discovered
that they had pinned their faith to rul
which had exceptions.
| remember that just before Grant at
tackled Lee in the Wilderness, and while
was at brigade headquarters, hen, Of
which there was large flock about tn,
yard, scratched up a steel button. A ser
geont of cavalry at once dismounted anC
secured IL, and when l asked what use h
could put it TO, he replied:
Il VIII drop it into the ear of my coloneli
horse just before the next battle, and n,
harm will come to either of them"
But what fetish can there be in a stee
button"
"Oh, it isn't so much in the bottom as il
the hen scratching it up before my eyes"
But why not try it in your own horse
ear and take care of yourselff'
TO be lucky it must be given to some
body else -
L laughed at him, and he got so mac
that we nearly came to blows | me
MIN week later, having a sabre cut OF
his head, and asked him how the fetisl
worked
Must have been Growing hen which
scratched it up" he replied. "The Colone
and twenty of our men were killed the da,
or